RSL to Face Winner of Next Tuesday’s 2nd-Round Match between Minnesota and Des Moines on May 29, Site TBD;

All 16 U.S.-based MLS sides join 99th Edition of U.S. Soccer’s National Championship

SANDY, Utah / CHICAGO (Wednesday, May 16, 2012) –Real Salt Lake today learned the possible opponents for its return to Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup play, with the Claret-and-Cobalt drawing the winner of the next Tuesday’s Second Round contest between the NASL (Division II) Minnesota Stars FC and PDL (Division III) Des Moines Menace. Real Salt Lake will either host Des Moines in the Third Round contest at Rio Tinto Stadium on Tuesday, May 29 (kickoff slated for 7:00 p.m. MT) OR travel to face Minnesota on the same date.

Winning the 2012 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup – U.S. Soccer’s National Championship tournament – would offer Real Salt Lake a road back to the CONCACAF Champions League tournament, the continental club championship the Utah side was on the cusp of winning last spring. Participation in MLS Cup 2012 and claiming the MLS Supporters’ Shield (regular season) title would provide alternate routes for qualification into the 2013/14 edition of the CONCACAF Champions League. RSL finds out its group pairings in this year’s CCL tourney on Tuesday, May 30.

Should Des Moines emerge victorious over the favored Thunder next week, tickets for RSL’s debut in the 99th edition of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup will go on-sale immediately to the public next Tuesday, May 22 at 10:00 p.m. MT, with tickets in all general seating areas at Rio Tinto Stadium costing just $6 for current Real Salt Lake Season Ticket Holders and only $12 for the general public. Real Salt Lake “PRIDE” Season Ticket Holders are reminded that U.S. Open Cup contests are NOT already included in their 2012 ticket package.

The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is an annual, single-elimination competition open to all amateur and professional soccer teams affiliated with U.S. Soccer, with a “closed bid” process determining the host teams in each round. This year’s tournament proper kicked off Tuesday with 16 First Round matches contested across the country, with four amateur sides prevailing. The 2012 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup will continue with 32 teams pairing off for Second Round fixtures nextTuesday, May 22, with the 16 teams that emerge matching up against MLS opponents in the Third Round on May 29. The U.S. Open Cup “Round of 16” will be held June 5, followed by four Quarterfinal Round games on June 26, a pair of Semifinal Round games on July 10 and the 99th Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final on August 7 or 8.

A year ago, RSL won its third-round contest at home against the USL PRO Wilmington Hammerheads, emerging 2-0 in a match featuring goals by DF Tony Beltran and FW Jean Alexandre. A few weeks later, RSL dropped the quarterfinal match to FC Dallas by the same score to suffer elimination from the tourney, the deepest that Utah’s club has ever progressed in the Open Cup. Last year’s appearance in the U.S. Open Cup proper marked RSL’s first since 2006, the final season in which all MLS teams automatically entered the competition’s earlier rounds. For four consecutive years from 2007-10, RSL was forced to try and earn its spot in the domestic tournament as one of at least nine Major League Soccer sides fighting for the two “play-in” positions allocated to America’s top-flight division. RSL’s all-time U.S. Open Cup history is as follows:

REAL SALT LAKE – US OPEN CUP HISTORY

vs. Team GP W-L-T OT ShO GF GA Mtg. Round

Minnesota Thunder (USL) 1 0-1-0 0-1-0 4 6 2005 Rd of 16

Virginia Beach (USL) 1 1-0-0 1-0-0 2 1 2006 Rd of 16

Kansas City Wizards 1 1-0-0 2 1 2007 Play-in

Colorado Rapids 2 0-2-0 1 3 2007 Quarterfinal

Columbus Crew 1 0-1-0 0 2 2008 Play-in

Seattle Sounders FC 1 0-1-0 1 4 2009 Play-in

San Jose Earthquakes 2 1-0-1 1-0 7 3 2010 Play-in

D.C. United 2 0-1-0 0-1-0 1 2 2010 Play-in

Wilmington (USL) 1 1-0-0 2 0 2011 Rd of 16

FC Dallas 1 0-1-0 0 2 2011 Quarterfinal

TOTALS 12 4-7-1 1-2-0 1-0 20 24

While RSL has never before faced Des Moines, during the team’s inaugural 2005 season it traveled to Minnesota to play its first-ever U.S. Open Cup contest against the Stars forerunner in Division II professional soccer in the area, the Minnesota Thunder. Despite a hat trick by former captain and current head coach Jason Kreis – the only three-goal performance in club history prior to Robbie Findley’s outburst in the 2009 home opener – RSL dropped the affair by a 4-6 score after 120 minutes.

The 2012 champion will earn a $100,000 cash prize, while the runner-up will collect $50,000 (both prizes awarded by U.S. Soccer). The top Division III (USL PRO) and Amateur Division clubs (USL PDL, USASA & NPSL) will each receive a $10,000 prize. The winner also will have the team’s name engraved on the historic Dewar Challenge Trophy, the oldest trophy in American team sports that is housed in the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta, N.Y. The tournament has crowned a champion for 98 consecutive years dating back to 1914.